Chapter 174: The Creature

Two legendary swordsmiths who are currently residing on the katanas they forged, Masamune and Muramasa, have shown their prowess today. Although he was in his ethereal form, Masamune didn't wane his power as proof that he can give out strong energy of mana from just the sword alone. On the other hand, Muramasa might have not used his ethereal body and chosen to possess Maple's body instead but that doesn't mean he was weaker than Masamune, he possessed Maple so that her body can withstand the curse of thecreature if she ever gets to contract it. Also, while using her body as a medium, it seems that Muramasa can release much stronger power than when she was just by herself.

Currently, the two are trying to get close to the creature as fast as they can, Masamune is just floating but he is also moving swiftly, running up ahead of us. Of course, Muramasa did not get left behind either, they were very fast like they are riding on the wind. I can still catch up to them but barely. I can get by and catch up to them by enhancing my legs with mana to be able to catch up to them without any trouble that I will have cramps later.

"Kazuma, you guys have finally entered the creature's curse range. Be careful, we cannot be taking this lightly even if you got something that will allow you to lower the probability of contracting it. The better option is to defeat the enemy immediately."

"Easier said than done! That creature is much bigger than any enemy I have seen before! Its size is not even close as big as the size of Raigaki and Yaya's teddy bear. Don't you think we should just seal it again?"

"What are you saying? If "The Raven" sealed this creature before, why is it outside now? That only means that the creature managed to escape from the captivity of the seal. Now, I don't want to sound so bad, but do you want to seal that? I think eliminating it as soon as possible is the best course of action if you don't want to deal with it again in the future."

"But... can we kill that thing? I mean, we have Masamune and Muramasa but I don't think their katanas are enough to mince through the enemy."

"True enough but that doesn't mean you can't defeat it, remember your mana overload?"

Mana overload.

That is the method I am using due to the reason I have so much mana at my disposal with the help of the Ygdrassil seed embedded on my head, which supplies infinite mana to my whole body. Out of all the magic skills I use, this is the magic skill that has the most burst damage of all I use though I have to get close to the target to activate it since there is no way for me to activate in range mode.

"Are you saying Mana Overload can help?"

"Of course. Even though you will have to get close to that creature to use it, you will be getting close to that enemy anyway to fight against it, so why not use it? Besides, it can be used to chip away parts of that monster's body bit by bit. I know you can get something to defeat it immediately using it. Just discover it out and test it for maximum damage output."

If Blue is saying this will be helpful but does not divulge on its further uses, then I have no choice but to test it out and see what it can do against this monstrosity.

"ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!"

The ground shook once more and the wind started to blow harder than before. The creature is now trying to face on our way right now. Masamune and Muramasa are now just a few meters from the monster as they race through the buildings. In a single momentum, Muramasa used Maple's body to leap high enough for him to land to the body of the creature and stab the katana to the body of the monster. Masamune just drifted since he can float and continue moving up the body.

When I reached the nearest spot to the monster, my head started to get heavy and painful. Several scenes played out in my head like it was a sort of twisted thing I can't properly understand. I bit my finger and forced it to bleed, allowing me to regain a little bit of my sanity after feeling the pain in my bleeding finger.

"So this is the symptom of that disorder eh?" I muttered to myself.

Staring into this monstrosity, I felt a little overwhelmed, and while looking at Masamune and Muramasa high up without feeling any fear made me a little jealous. While staring at the creature, my skull knuckle shook a little bit.

After the time I tried to purify the Skull Knuckles, the ability to destroy enemy bodies has toned down and it cannot easily do so like how it can do so before. The spirit inside it is also not responding, which made me a little bit disappointed that the dangerous power it possesses disappear when I cleansed it from dark energy. Although it still functions properly, it is not as powerful as before.

When I purified the Skull Knuckle, it starts to shake little by little like it is trying to do something but only has limited freedom to unleash or just too weak to use it. Whatever it is, I am just hoping it won't start releasing its harmful curses power to decay almost anything it touches. But it would certainly help if it can easily kill this creature in one go. That would solve a lot of the problems we are facing.

Since it is hard to climb without flight ability or a sword to use as your climbing tool, I have to do some makeshift version to reach the top of the creature. Using the barriers on Domain of Balmung, I created little shields that are enough to handle my weight once. And using them as small platforms, getting up the back of the monster is made easy, at least for me.

The creature now totally annoyed by our movements roared and our expectation of a slow-moving creature has been destroyed the moment it started to swiftly turn around and opened its big mouth which now revealed to me as a big black hole.

"Kazuma! The creature is charging up an attack on its mouth! It will fire in 5 seconds! Get out of there! Your Domain of Balmung will be useless in this part!"

"5 SECONDS!? The f*ck?"

That is barely enough time for me to escape!

"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!"

A black ball formed at a very fast rate on its mouth, continuously pulsating energy on it. I didn't hesitate to jump down from the Domain of Balmung I created to dodge the attack, but the 5-second limit is not enough for me to immediately reach the ground. I was prepared to catch the beam with my body but I didn't expect someone else will appear in front of me.

"First form: Void Slash."

The next thing I saw baffled me, the thin blade of the katana that is used to slice against the beam of energy is none other than the katana of Muramasa. The beam of energy didn't remain whole as it suddenly split into two. The beam ended in one strike without getting to strike both of us.

"Muramasa!"

"Keep climbing kid. I will be following you in case things get awry."

"Thanks for the backup!"

"Don't relax yet. This monstrosity is big which is going to be a bad thing. We have to get on top of this creature and detect where the beast core is located. We have to destroy it if we wanted to kill this enemy."

I nodded and cast the Domain of Balmung once more, making another pathway towards the top. I made sure to double-time to immediately reach the top before the creature can fire off another beam.The creature cannot fire for a few minutes after the first blast which means that is enough time before the next move.

Luckily, the creature did not move after the attack, allowing me to safely reach the top with Muramasa. Masamune is also at the top of the creature and is currently observing the creature.

"What are the results of your observation, old guy?" Muramasa asked.

"This creature is somewhat complicated in status and this is the first time I have encountered so troublesomely in my whole life even when I was still alive."

"What do you mean?"

"To start with, the creature's body is covered in different types of curses. Even this part of the creature that we are standing in is covered in curses but don't worry about it since I cleared the curses in this surroundings. We just have to be careful about the area I didn't clear because the curses are potent for humans and magicians."

"Have you found the core of this creature?" Muramasa asked.

"Yes. It is in a troublesome location and hard to reach the place. It's the forehead. The blue glowing orb on the forehead is the main source of its life and magic force. But if we wanted to even get near on the core, we have to really get near its head and just hope that while we are destroying its core, it will not release the same beam earlier where both of you are almost obliterated."